Brooklyn Page #2

the rugby club looks your way.

The scornful way she emphasises the social institution

suggests that she doesn’t think he’s much of a catch.

NANCY:

(sufficiently excited to

miss the point)

Do you think he might?

EILIS:

Of course he will. I know you like

him, Nancy, but he’s not Gary

Cooper, is he? And those boys, with

their hair-oil and their blazers..

She shudders her distaste.

NANCY:

He has beautiful eyes.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 5A.

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EILIS:

And he’s going to come into a

beautiful shop in the Market

Square.

NANCY:

(changing the subject)

Why didn’t you wear your blue

dress?

Now it is Eilis’s turn to look a little discomfited.

EILIS:

Are you asking why I didn’t make

more of an effort?

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 6.

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They have reached the small hall where the dance they are

attending is taking place. They join a small queue to get in -

all girls.

NANCY:

What if one of the boys from the

rugby club asked you to dance?

Wouldn’t you like the pleasure of

telling him it’s too late?

They laugh.

8 INT. DANCE HALL. NIGHT 8

Nancy and Eilis are leaning against the wall sipping

lemonades. There aren’t many men this early in the evening,

and the dance-floor is almost deserted. Suddenly there is a

buzz from the girls scattered around the place. Eilis’s eyes

are drawn to the same place as everyone else’s: to the door.

A group of young men, dressed almost identically, and just as

Eilis described - blazers and hair-oil - are coming in. One

of them is JIM, who we will meet much later.

These young men exude a confidence bordering on arrogance -

they’re hard to like en masse - and consequently the uniform

looks slightly sinister. They ignore everyone in the room and

make their way to the soft drinks bar. Eilis rolls her eyes.

Nancy is blushing.

Later. Nancy and Eilis are still waiting. Eilis is watching

the rugby club boys, Nancy is looking anywhere but. The

camera picks out George, who is tall, confident, as oily as

his friends - and no Gary Cooper.

EILIS:

He’s looked over here twice

already.

NANCY:

He hasn’t!

EILIS:

He’s walking over here now.

NANCY:

(still looking the other

way)

He’s not!

He is. We see him. Nancy, however, still has her back to him.

EILIS:

(impatient)

Why would I keep lying to you about

what George Sheridan’s doing?

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 7.

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George arrives. He nods at Nancy.

GEORGE:

Would you like to dance?

Nancy is almost too nervous to nod her head.

Moments later. George and Nancy on the dance floor. Over

their shoulders the camera picks up Eilis, making her way

towards the door, holding her coat. A couple of the rugby

clubbers whisper and snigger as they watch her leave.

9 INT. DINING ROOM, EILIS’S HOUSE. EVENING 9

It’s Eilis’s last night at home. Eilis, her mother MARY and

her sister Rose, are eating, initially in silence. The sound

of cutlery hitting crockery only serves to emphasise the

tension and the sadness of the evening. Eilis keeps sneaking

glances at the rest of her family, trying to gauge how

unhappy they are.

There’s no outward trace. Rose and her mother are both

concentrating on their food, determined to give nothing away.

Eventually Eilis has to say what is on her mind.

EILIS:

(quietly)

I wish I had written to Father

Flood about you, Rose.

ROSE:

Me? I have a job. You had a couple

of hours on a Sunday working for

Nettles Kelly.

MARY:

(mildly disapproving)

You shouldn’t call her that.

ROSE:

I think it’s quite a kind name.

Considering she’s actually a

terrible old witch.

Mary makes a scandalised face.

EILIS:

I don’t want to spend my last

evening talking about her.

ROSE:

Good.

But nobody knows what they do want to talk about.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 8.

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MARY:

They say it’s hotter there in the

summer, and colder in the winter.

Mary puts her knife and fork down despairingly.

MARY:

(with deep but clearly

displaced anxiety)

What in Heaven’s name will she do

about clothes?

ROSE:

She’ll buy them, mother.

MARY:

She doesn’t want to be wasting her

money on clothes.

ROSE:

She won’t have much choice. She’ll

be there...

She stops herself from finishing the sentence. An even deeper

and unhappier silence falls on the table.

10 INT. EILIS’S BEDROOM. NIGHT 10

Close on an old and very large suitcase. It’s about two-

thirds full of Eilis’s things. Pull back to show Rose and

Eilis peering into it.

EILIS:

(wry)

There. It wasn’t so hard to decide

after all.

ROSE:

Is that really everything you own?

Oh, Eilis. I should have looked

after you better. I should have

taken you shopping twice a year,

summer and winter.

EILIS:

You’ve bought most of the clothes

in this case. That’s one of the

reasons I’m going, because I can’t

buy my own.

ROSE:

If it was just that, I’d spend

every penny I had on you, gladly.

But I can’t buy you a future. I

can’t buy you the kind of life you

need.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 9.

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EILIS:

(whispers)

I know. (Beat) But you’ll come to

see me there one day?

ROSE:

Yes.

EILIS:

And you’ll look after yourself?

ROSE:

You don’t have to worry about me.

EILIS:

And I’ll come home to visit, won’t

I? Because I couldn’t bear it if...

Rose has to stop this, because she can’t bear it either.

ROSE:

You haven’t packed your shoes yet.

They’ll take up a bit of room.

11 EXT. LINER. DAY 11

Eilis is wedged at the deck-rail of a large passenger liner,

along with a lot of other emigres, her large suitcase in

front of her. Among the crowd on the dock below her are Rose

and Mary. There are a lot of tears, from passengers and the

people they are leaving behind. Rose and Mary, however, like

Eilis, are keeping everything in. The ship blasts its horn to

announce its imminent departure; everyone jumps and laughs

nervously, and the waving becomes more frantic. Rose and

Mary, however, suddenly turn away from the boat and push

through the crowd. Rose looks back helplessly and blows Eilis

a kiss. Eilis watches the backs of the two of them until they

disappear out of sight.

12 INT. STAIRCASE, LINER. DAY 12

Eilis bumps her case down the narrow steps deep in the bowels

of the boat. She reaches a corridor and examines the sign on

the wall directing passengers to their berths. She has to

descend still deeper into the boat.

13 INT. CABIN. DAY 13

Eilis’s cabin is tiny and windowless, and she has to share it

with someone:
there are two bunk beds. She wedges her

suitcase into an available space.

She opens the bathroom door. The bathroom is tiny. It

contains a toilet and a sink.

(CONTINUED)

'Brooklyn' YELLOW Script Dated 24th April 2014 10.

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